


a lesson in consent

by melonlordnation



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Consent is key, Ember Island Players - Freeform, Gen, zutara if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:00:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25596172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melonlordnation/pseuds/melonlordnation
Summary: “I get it. You’re a kid. You were gone for a hundred years. And you’ve been busy learning other things. No one’s taught you these kinds of hard-learned lessons. So, man to man, let me spell this out for you.”orSome time after they go watch The Boy In The Iceberg, Zuko confronts Aang about the offstage events from that night.
Comments: 13
Kudos: 120





	a lesson in consent

Aang could feel the heat of the incoming fireball long before it got close enough to make contact. He leapt from his meditative position and extinguished the offending flame with a funnel of wind. While hovering in the air, he scowled down at Zuko.

“What was that for?”

“Training,” Zuko yelled up to him, shooting two more bursts of fire at him.

“But I already did firebending today!” Aang dodged the flames, letting them fly into the ocean and dissolve into steam. “You said we should practice in the mornings. It’s afternoon now.”

“Sun’s still up.”

They battled for only a few more minutes, Aang furiously playing the defensive to every sharp offensive blow from Zuko. Suddenly, the prince stopped, having satiated whatever had come over him.

Aang dropped to the ground and marched right up to him. Before he could say anything, Zuko put his hands out with his palms facing Aang. He was now on the defense.

“What? Like you said, we already trained once today. How was I supposed to know you wouldn’t want to keep training?”

The Avatar couldn’t believe how thick Zuko’s head was. “Additional training is fine, but I was meditating. You could have killed me!”

“Oh, was it a bad time for you?”

“Yeah, it was.”

Zuko shrugged. “Sorry for the confusion.” He turned to walk away.

Just as quickly, he turned back around, silhouetted by the sun as he towered over Aang. 

“Do you see how easy that was?” 

Aang stood his ground. “How easy what was?”

“Asking. Listening. Walking away.” 

“I don’t-”

“I get it. You’re a kid. You were gone for a hundred years. And you’ve been busy learning other things. No one’s taught you these kinds of hard-learned lessons. So, man to man, let me spell this out for you,” Zuko’s voice dropped, “people don’t really like it when you do things to them without permission. Even if you’ve done it before, that doesn’t make it okay to do again. Whether it’s routine training, or a _show of affection_ , especially not if it’s a _bad time_ , or if one of the involved parties is _confused_ by what’s going on.” 

“But you’re the one who did that to me.”

“Why don’t you meditate on it. See if you can think of what I could possibly be referring to.” Zuko stepped away. “Keep one eye open, kid. That was act one. Act two is coming if you can’t figure it out. This is your intermission. Don’t screw it up this time.”

**Author's Note:**

> i honestly don’t know where this idea came from but i ran with it. wasn’t sure what to do with tags/warnings because it’s light but can be interpreted deeper, so if it needs to change or if something should be added, please let me know!
> 
> -Robin


End file.
